All the Talents

Improving Health at Home and Abroad: How overseas volunteering from the NHS benefits the UK and the world

The final report of our review of overseas health volunteering from the UK has now been released. It addresses the role of NHS staff who volunteer overseas in advancing health globally and bringing new knowledge, skills and ideas back to the UK.

The report points to the opportunities that exist for the UK and developing countries from improving the scale and quality of volunteering programmes. It argues for three key actions to accelerate growth in the movement of mutually beneficial, effective global partnerships.

The result of a partnership by six All Party Parliamentary Groups, this report takes a global perspective on how to empower patients to play a more active role in their care. Drawing lessons from over 100 innovative case studies submitted to the review, it outlines how much the UK has to learn from high, middle and low income countries – and how these lessons should be applied. At the same time, the report also highlights the UK’s strengths, its important role historically in supporting the global patient empowerment agenda, and how it can continue to play a leading role internationally.

Mental Health for Sustainable Development

26th November 2014

In collaboration with the APPG on Mental Health, this report considers what the UK is currently doing to improve mental health globally and whether UK expertise and resources could be more effectively used to meet this challenge. The simple message of this report is that progress in development will not be made without improvements in mental health. Mental illnesses cause more disability than any other health condition; bring enormous pain and suffering to individuals and their families and communities; and can lead to early death, human rights abuses and damage to the economy. Improving mental health is therefore a vital part of a successful development programme.

The UK's Contribution to Health Globally: Benefiting the Country and the World

29th June 2015

This report describes the UK's footprint on health globally across four sectors: academia, government, commerce and not-for-profit. It shows that the UK plays a leading role in each sector: its global contribution second only to the US, which it surpasses in some areas.

This report makes the very simple point that universal health coverage cannot possibly be achieved without strengthening nursing globally. This is partly about increasing the number of nurses, but also crucially about making sure their contribution is properly understood and enabling them to work to their full potential.

The report goes on to argue that strengthening nursing will have the triple impact of improving health, promoting gender equality and supporting economic growth.